A lost crown always looks more bitter on the head of someone else. To Emily the shine loses it's glow and everything around the new Empress looks dead. It is almost as if every living soul has been sucked out of the tower the moment Delilah Copperspoon waltzed into the palace. Her cocky sway of the hips and pointed fingers angered Emily to no end. No one is to disrespect her. She is-was the Empress. Yet, even with so many loyal people by her side, there were so many more willing to betray her at the first opportunity. Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what happened to her. Within minutes, on her mother's passing anniversary no less, everything was taken from Emily. Her father, throne, pride, and trust. In seconds it all melted away by that witch, Delilah.
Delilah dared to enter into Emily's territory and claim it all for her own. The event occurred so quickly that Emily was left in stunned at just the thought of her actually having another living relative. When the word "aunt" left Delilah's lips, Emily found herself floored but willing to allow the estranged woman into her home. It was the only polite offer she could think of for such odd circumstance. After all, family should always be together. However, Delilah was far from interested with connecting with family. She had bigger goals. When Delilah looked at Emily on the throne she paid no mind to her niece. Instead, her eyes focused solely on the throne. The cool chair that could easily turn any man into a God. Every command and order is obeyed so long as you are the one sitting on the throne. Delilah has craved that chair for so many years. Not just for the sake of having power but to take what was hers. That throne belonged to her, not her bastard of a niece. Sure, it is easy for her to judge Emily for being a child born out of wedlock because so was she. Delilah was the first born from the Emperor himself. Yet, her half sister Jessamine was promised it all. A future, royalty, and the throne. Jessamine should have never taken all that power for it belonged to Delilah, but she did. Everything was taken and in turn passed onto Emily. So they stood against each other for a short while as the coup began. As Delilah had planned, it occurred smoothly. Her allies were swift and her strength was no match for Emily. The young Empress was soon knocked to the ground with ease and dragged up to her chambers, where the key to the hidden escape route was taken from her. This was Delilah's victory and she was going to enjoy every moment of it.
Now Emily stands in her chambers, trapped and tried from the events that have unfolded. However, she needs a plan to escape or else she will leave herself exposed to great danger. Quickly, Emily goes to the door of the room and peaks out with the large keyhole. Guards move about the hallways. They move about easily despite Emily hearing screams of terrors from down the hallway. By the sound of it some people are still resisting the coup and are unfortunately failing to stop it. From the keyhole, Emily is disturbed by how calm everyone looks. The guards do not seem fazed at all the sound of people dying down the hallway nor do they even look like they care. To them this was just another day at work. As much as Emily wishes to concern herself with the other people in the tower, she knows it would be unwise to try and get attention on herself by trying to bash through the door. Even if she wanted to do that as a plan, it would be impossible to do is. With the door now lock, and the door thick as wood, the chamber door would stay up strong against her normal strength.
Emily pulls away from the door. She lets out an annoyed huff of air as she looks about her chambers. Everything looks normal in there despite the chaos in the other side of the door. Papers sit nicely at her desk as an old clock ticks quietly in the background. It makes her anxious though. Every second that passes reminds her that she is running out of time to come with a plan. She breathes in slowly to try and steady her nerve. Now is the time that she needs to remain collect. If she is to regain control of the situation she will need to use her head. Quickly, Emily looks around the room for anything of use. Her dark brown eyes dart about and land immediately at a window. Of course! A window. They were so quick to dump Emily into the room that they never bothered to ensure the windows would be locked. A surge of hope rushes through Emily and she makes her way towards the window. She gently pushes it open and the window slides open with ease. Though it would be understandable as to why the windows were never looked at. The room was far from being on the first floor and looking down from out the window, Emily sees the crashing waves of water hitting up against the tower. Jagged rocks can barely be seen from way up high as the tides force the water to shift and move. The sight is honestly intimidating.
"Don't got much of a choice," Emily mumbles to herself. Moving slowly, but carefully, Emily slides out of the window. A harsh wind of salt air hits her the moment she stands at the ledge of the building. She finds herself grateful for not having much of a fear of heights but the sight of the fall is still highly intimidating to her. She just needs to treat this as one of her training exercises with Corvo. The crashing waves break her train of thought as she reminds herself that it would be unwise of her to stay in such a dangerous position. Shuffling her feet, Emily does a balancing act on the thin ledge. Every step is taken with precaution as her hand glides against the stone cold building. Luckily, the window for the next room over, the royal bedroom, was also unlock.
Entering, Emily catches sight of bodies around the room. Nearly every one of them she recognizes as being one of her loyal servants. It is a bitter thought that earlier in the day they were all alive and ready for another day of work. Their blood now stains the carpets and sooner or later their bodies will be disposed of in an uncaring manner. Who knows? They might even blame Emily Kaldwin for their deaths too since they seem keen on framing her already for the Crown Killer murders. All this is just more mess for her to clean up. With a heavy sigh, Emily steadies her footing but feels her world shake once more when recognizing one of the bodies on the ground. Alexi. The poor woman never saw the blade coming. Emily was in a foggy daze when she was dragged off away from the throne, but she remembered the young Captain taking the blade right to the gut. A twitch of the finger startles her. Alexi is still alive, just barely. Emily quickly goes up to the dying woman as they exchanged quick words with each other, but within seconds, she too ends up like one of the many cold lifeless bodies on the ground. As Alexi lays against the wall, bleeding from Corvo's sword. Death has always played a part in the kingdom, Emily recognizes that. Yet, she never thought it would ever be so personal to her. Too many in her have already died and she's only at the early age of 25. It's nothing to really be proud of. It makes her heart heavy as she glances to the floor. In the mix of blood her father's sword lays on the ground. It is tempting her to pick it up. Emily wonders briefly how easily she could solve many of her issues with just a swing of a sword. Though it is not the way Corvo taught her. Her father took precaution in cutting down other lives and actually kept it to a minimum. He only killed when absolutely no other options were left. It is respectable to Emily and because of that she tries to follow the same way of thinking. Though looking at the trail of destruction that was gained through their peaceful actions, Emily is starting to wonder if it is actually worth it. Peaceful seems to be lacking any benefits at the moment. It is why Emily grabs onto the sword tightly. It feels right. The blood covering doesn't have to be from the ones she considers allies. She could always restrain it with the blood of her enemies. To exact revenge on them all sounds perfect right now. They don't deserve to live. Emily holds onto the blade for her dear life as she gets up from the ground. Now armed once more, she should be able to defend herself. Yet, a loud thud of a footstep catches her attention. A guard happens to be passing by and quickly catches sight of the escaped former Empress. There is a split second where their eyes stayed glued to each other right before Emily raises up her sword in a ready position.
"You there! How did you get here," he yells out to her. Emily doesn't respond. Instead she tries to keep her mind calm. This is what her training has led to. This is not a training exercise nor a game. They both recognize this but instead of the guard reaching for his sword. His hand snatches onto a small pocket on the side of his uniform. Emily charges forward with the blade. Within a second the space between them is closed and right when Emily is inches away from the guard, a light reflection shines in his hand. Out of the pocket comes a needle. One that Emily is sure of Corvo using many times. A sleep dart designed knock out a dangerous beast in seconds. She instantly regrets being so close now and falters in her attack. Her moment of hesitation is long enough for the guard to lung the needle into Emily. It pokes through her layers of clothes as it punctures her arm. Despite her pulling away quickly, a rush of dizziness sticks her even as panic sets in the back of her mind. A full thought is not able to be formed as her eyes start to see stars. Her legs instantly starts to buckle under her as Emily tries to not lose her grip on her sword. The guard takes this moment of weakness and shoves Emily to the ground. Already feeling off balance, it is enough to send Emily tumbling to the floor. She wants to get up. She knows she needs to. Yet, it feels so much more comfortable laying there as the sleep drug quickly sets in, knocking her out.
Emily is unsure how long she was unconscious. What she does know is that she reawakens with much anxiety and adrenaline. From her last memories, she knows she's in danger. So her eyes shoot open to take in her surroundings. To her surprise she is only back in the chambers. She has been sloppily places on the fine couch in the room. The place is much dimmer now, indicating that a few hours might have passed as the natural lighting is almost non existent. Emily struggles to sit up but she recognizes there are three guards scattered about in the room. All of them quickly look towards Emily once noticing she is no longer sleeping.
"She's awake," one guard states boredly.
"About time. I thought we might have killed her. The Empress would have been furious with us." Another one replies as he starts to stretch. He looks as if he was lounging about before she had awoken. Despite her instincts of danger kicking in, Emily looks around slowly. Her head is feeling foggy and everything looks almost slowed down to her. Shakily, Emily gets herself up properly up against the couch as the guards all approach her. She reaches for the blade on her side to only realize it is not there. They must have confiscated it. The guards catches the action and one snarls at her while standing in front of her.
"Oh, look at what she's trying to do fellas? She think we'd leave her armed." A round of laughters leave them. Emily frowns at them and she meets the eyes of one of the guards. His look hardens and he reaches forward and snatches the front of her coat.
"What're you looking at? Don't give me pissed off look like that! You're an absolute nobody now," he nearly yells in her face. In anger, Emily tries shoving him away from her but only angers the guard even more. He stays firmly placed in his spot and tightens his grip on her coat before throwing her to the group. The action is sudden. She barely catches herself before completely tumbling to the floor. The other guards are done laughing now but do look annoyed at the attempt of aggression from Emily.
"You killed so many people and thought you could actually get away with it?!" One of the guard express. "Good thing Empress Delilah stepped in. Who knows how many more you woulda killed for your own political gain?"
Emily slowly gets to her feet as the three guards surround her. All of them bigger and stronger than her.
"The Crown Killer murders were not done by me nor my father," Emily defends bitterly.
One of the guards rolls his eyes, not believing her. "Good luck proving that to the judge on your court date. I'm sure they'll believe you despite all the damning evidence on you," another one mocks.
"You had some good people killed," the one on her right starts. "and for what? To ensure no one disagrees with you? You already had so much power. Typical of you royals to be doing this while my kids are out their, sick with the plague!" Emily can see the anger in the guard's eyes. She would have honestly taken responsibility if she even did play a part in the killings but this is all out of her hands. All Emily could do while on the throne was to try and lessen the plague effects and victims. With limited resources and greedy nobles, Emily only has so much command without angering her rich supporters. Losing them would easily result in her losing funding and donations from them. However, they always wanted something in return. Power, land, and sketchy promises that Emily felt uncomfortable agreeing to. Despite being Empress, it does not always come with complete power so long as you play the game fair. Unfortunately for her, she's been playing the game fair the entire time. They do not understand the choices an Empress has to make at times, and sometimes Emily wonders if she's always made the right call for her people. Yet, no matter what she says she knows that it will not help her now. Right now, she has three angry guards around her. The only thing she could try and do now is try and defuse the situation, as her father always suggested. Try a peaceful route. It always seems to fail her but Corvo always insisted on doing things that way. Maybe she is just doing it wrong.
"I'm sorry to hear that about your children, but do you really think Delilah on the throne is going to help in the plague? She is clearly just trying to get power. She does not care about the people," Emily responds.
The same guard scuffs. "She's already made many promises to have you fancy rich folks cough up more money for us little guys. It sounds to me she is focusing on helping people and not just trying to make sure her political opponents are dead."
Emily shakes her head. "What are you talking about? She is threatening to put charges on me so that way she could keep the throne."
"That is because you committed a crime!" The guard directly in front her responds instead. "And just like every criminal, you are going to pay."
Emily frowns at the man and tightens her fist. She's tired of this game. At this rate she is going nowhere and there is no point arguing with lowly guards. They have already made up their minds on who's side they're on. Reasoning with them is just a waste of her time. Corvo was wrong. Not everything could be solved through peace. A guard smiles at her when seeing her fist.
"What are you going to do about it then?" The same guard is a quick moment where there is silence. Emily stares the guard down with her fist still clenching and knuckles turning more pale. Exhaling, she loosens her fist and relaxes her muscles. Corvo has instilled too much into her and it shows. "That's what I thought," he replies. He shakes his head and quickly raises his own fist up. She doesn't see it at first, but the punch is thrown at Emily from one of the guards. It too fast for her to dodge. She does not even have time to blink before the punch lands a solid hit on her face. Minor blood sprays as her teeth collide with her lip, busting it open. The force is enough to, once more, go tumbling to the ground. The shock wave of pain hurts, but probably not as much as the soft laughter coming from one of the guards. It sends a wave of anger through Emily as she quickly tries to get up to her feet once more. However, she is shoved back down to the ground once more by one of the guards. Most of them laugh now except for one guard who tries to keep a straight face. Though an amused smile is there, Emily notices when she glances up.
Before she could say anything, a shadow emerges from the hallway. With the door still crept open, and the candles lighting up the hallway, the slim shadow eats up the room. The laughing stops instantly. The figure enters the room with such high confidence and Emily takes the opportunity to stand up. No one stop her this time as the guards take the moment to bow to their new ruler entering. Delilah walks slowly into the room, followed by two more guard accompany her. They do not enter far into the room however as they stay close to the door and wait. Delilah looks about the room, almost ignoring Emily was there too. Delilah gives a thoughtful hum as she studies every every inch of her new prize. The drapes hangs firmly from the rod it is attached to as gold threading outlining shines against Delilah's eyes. The little light in the room aid in the glow and Emily would be lying if she said she was not intimidated for a split second. Though she keeps a strong expression as Delilah turns to her. All the guards give a quick and deep bow once more when Delilah gets close.
"Hello, my dear niece. I'm so glad to see you are looking well-oh!" She rinses her hand up to Emily's busted lip. Dried blood covers the area and it swells minorly. It does not look serious at all but enough to still be noticeable. Emily can feel Delilah's grip tighten ever so more by each passing second. "Your poor lip is busted. I'm sure it will heal quickly," Delilah states mockingly. Emily can see the false motherly instincts and it is hard for her not to jerk her head away. She doesn't like being touched without granting someone permission to do so. Yet, she understands the shift in power and that she is on the losing side of it. There is not much she could do, besides return a heavy glare back. Her brown eyes almost look black by the heavy look she gives. Delilah ignores the look. Instead, she only tightens her grip on Emily's face as if she is trying to prevent her from even moving in the first place. Delilah chuckles softly. "But we both know that pretty face of yours could have saved some damage if you were not so hostile."
Emily lets out an annoyed huff as she pulls away roughly. Delilah loosens her grip enough to allow her to slip out of her grasp. However, her nails are sharp and far too pointed. They scrape against Emily's face from the action and leave and small stinging pain. Minor scratch marks are left on Emily's chin and check and it is enough to make her wince. The red markings should fade in a few seconds but the amused look on Delilah's face won't leave anytime soon. "My, my. For a former Empress, you have far too much…" Delilah paused to search for the right word. She then points back at Emily. "...rudeness."
Emily could feel the glares coming from the guards. Though they only remain standing close by, ready to jump at any wrong move Emily makes.
"You don't deserve the throne and you know it," Emily counters quickly as she points accusingly to the other woman. She has the right to be upset. She was born for this and this woman took it from her. It sickens Emily to no end. She's been through far too much to allow some bitter old woman to take what belongs to her. It is her throne.
"Do you genuinely believe that?" A dark look from Delilah does not escape Emily's gaze. She is almost lost for words when Delilah takes one step closer to her. The young woman knows better than to step down and instead raises her head up to try and meet her aunt's eyes. "Do you, of all people, think that the throne belongs to you? Ha...you are like your mother. You take and take, but it is always someone else's possessions that you take from. I was the first born, not your mother. If out of the two of us, you are the less deserving of the leadership," Delilah comments darkly before relaxing. A smirk enters her face as she stares Emily down. The younger of the two keeps a blank face. Truth be told, Emily does not know how to respond back to the allegation than to remind that the only difference is that Jessamine was at least not a bastard child like Delilah. However, before Emily could make such a remark, Delilah takes a step back. "But do not worry, my little niece. I'm sure we could find some suitable work for you here. You might even like your place after a while...that is if you behave."
Emily sneers in response immediately, but it only makes Delilah smile even wider as she turns her back to Emily. Her clothes gracefully float in the wind with such confidence. It's tempting to Emily to reach out and attack the woman. She would admit it would give her much satisfaction to do so. However, a list of many consequences goes rushing through her head. She could only imagine her own reaction if someone would do the same to her. Assaulting an Empress could easily result in the death sentence or some other high, and painful, punishment. Emily might not view her aunt as the ruler but reality is that Delilah is pulling the strings right now. She is enjoying her place on the throne and Emily understands that the instant gratification will quickly result in regret. She needs to play this game right. If Emily wants to save Corvo and recover her place as the Empress, she will need to strike at the right moment. As Delilah walks away, she gives one final look back to Emily. An amused expression clings to her face as her slick hair reflects the candle light. Emily keeps an unamused face as she grinds her teeth together.
"It was nice having a word or two with you, my little sparrow. I do believe though you must be going. I don't wish to keep you from your ride to Coldridge prison. I will be sure to visit though." She gives a light laugh for a second. "Oh, and if I were you, I would quickly start cooperating. I hear murderers are not let off lightly here. It would be a shame if you were executed for all those poor souls you killed." Delilah turns her back once more as the guards next to her quickly grab onto Emily's arms. Their grip is tight and her heart is starting to race. Delilah walks out of the room happily as a few seconds later, they start dragging Emily out of the room too.
"Get moving," one commands. Emily complies numbly. Her legs move slowly as to somehow prevent this all from happening. Her mind is still trying to process all that has happened. She really lost the throne and the bitterness is not lightening up. If anything it is making her motivated to make them all pay.